Water dripped from the ceiling, echoing through the metal maze.
A generator hummed as lights flickered throughout the abandoned laboratory. Ice clung to the sprawling hallways and the tall walls of the facility.
A place long abandoned for centuries.
Until now…
Eggman sat, looking around the decrepit freezing lab.
It hardly took any time to find the other nearby backup lab nestled in the snowy peaks of Holoska. Although smaller than the other one he had initially been looking for in Halyceon, the laboratory was fitted with enough essentials to survive. 200 years ago, he recalled this place being a holding cell of spare parts and backup data of his less intricate designs. Plans left forgotten, ideas that bore no use, or inventions that were best left never invented at all (who would have thought a machine that only knew how to cook eggs would turn out to become a disastrous affair).
A grim expression crossed Eggman's face as his mind strained to comprehend how time had treated his memory. Inventions turned to scrap. Computers long since frozen over. Data that became all too corrupted to be usable. The stains of history became much too clear to him in this dreary place. A depressing and oppressive force pushing against his skin.
Silver's words hung heavy in his mind breaking from the drawling monologue of his thoughts. Disbelief still clung to him; an unsettling revelation of 200 years gone by clouding his mind. The empire he had so carefully build back 'home', back in his present, was, as far as he was concerned, most likely been long replaced in favor of a new civilization. Though he was no doctorate of history, the mandated history curriculum was enough for him to understand that civilizations, if not properly maintained, would turn to dissent or allow invasion with new management. He could only imagine what 200 years after his apparent disappearance had done to his empire.
To rebuild it would mean years upon years of toil, as well as gently correcting the management of the current land he had previously owned.
Though not an entirely useless endeavor, it was frustrating. Not to mention a waste of time.
"Hah!" he managed a laugh.
Time.
How ironic given the circumstances.
He pulled the box he sat on closer to the small space heater. Conveniently one of the few remaining pieces of technology that still managed to work in this place. He rubbed his hands together with a chill. A shiver crawling down his spine as he huddled as much of his body together. Patience was never his strong suite, and it was beginning to wear even thinner as the scrambled together generator hummed so slowly to life.
Try as he might to think of ways to bring the world to its knees or to return back to his present, it was difficult with the seemingly endless cold that permeated this place. It crawled into his bones, stuck to his joints, and made his age all the more apparent.
The cold hardly gave room for him to think.
"Orbot! Cubot!" he yelled. "Go fetch me a bigger space heater—!" His words caught in his throat as he looked up from the small machine. Head turned to stare around at the empty laboratory, searching for his missing servants.
The laboratory gave no reply.
"Feh!" he grunted with a huff as he dragged his heels on the ground to bring himself even closer to the space heater. "I suppose I'll have to make another robotic servant. Perhaps more useful than those blubbering buffoons."
Try as he might, and he loathed to admit it to even himself, he was beginning to miss them. Bossing anyone around would be a much-needed distraction from everything.
Before his thoughts were able to drift away, he was surprised by a sudden gust of air that rushed through the lab. At first, the air felt freezing cold as it gusted into Eggman's body. Teeth chattered as he stood in surprise by the frigid onslaught. But, as soon as he was able to come to his senses to find better shelter from the cold, heat came to replace it. For a moment, the air was refreshing and a blessing compared to the stale cold air that had sat in the lab for centuries. It offered a pleasant reprieve from the frost, and allowed Eggman to indulge in the sensation with a smile. Something he hadn't been able to muster together in a long time. Literally.
But the pleasure of warmth shifted to discomfort. Then soon to sweltering, and next much too hot.
Sweat poured from his brow as he batted his forehead with a piece of cloth. A gasp escaped his lips as he eyed the ice that melted away turn quickly to steam. He pulled his shirt, staring around at the laboratory as heat continued to gush through the hallways. It felt as though lava itself was pouring through the hallways as heat continued to cook him alive.
"What in blazes!?" he exclaimed as he jumped on top of a wooden box to avoid the uncomfortable heat emanating from the metal ground.
Eggman eyes darted towards the vents towards the ceiling wondering if something had exploded. But as quickly as the heat had come, it slowly subsided into a much more bearable, but still uncomfortable, warmth. Confusion overtook him as he stared around the facility, eyes tracing every crag of metal as he perched carefully atop the box, still unsure if the ground was safe.
"That was… strange…" he murmured to himself as he looked around the room. Second thoughts were beginning to form in his mind to turn tail and abandon this place for good as eyes glazed over the walls and carnage of scrap.
He placed a foot down on the ground, testing it, before clambering off the box. A sound soon filled the laboratory, echoing through its chambers. It was hard to recognize at first, but the noise soon became recognizable. Laughter. Childish but filled with mirth.
It startled Eggman. A hand scrambled for any sort of weapon that might be useable.
"Sonic!?" Eggman yelled towards the entrance of the laboratory. It was his immediate reaction given their tumultuous history. But the laughter that reverberated through the halls did not match with the annoying laughter that he had become frustratingly so used to. It was much too young and feminine to be Sonic or his other friend.
Slowly, Eggman peaked down another hallway, his eyes catching a glimpse of the intruder.
A shadowy figured loomed in the distance.
Another mobian. Short, shorter than Sonic. A long tail and imposing stature. But her remaining features was obscured by the heat that seemed to emanate from her body.
"You!" Eggman yelled as he turned down the hall. He stood tall against her, but she looked hardly stunned by his appearance. "Who are you? How did you get in here!?"
The figure relaxed her body upon seeing the doctor. "Who am I?" she contemplated those words carefully. "Let's say… I'm an interested third-party observer." Eggman could feel the smile in her voice. He couldn't place his finger on it, but something about her presence unnerved him. It wasn't threatening, but somehow unreal. Not the cyberspace type, but something more nebulous. Metaphysical, even.
She raised her arm. Eggman flinched backwards, steeling himself for an attack. But instead, she swiftly tossed something towards him.
Eyes widened as he realized what she had thrown at him. Pathetically, he scrambled to catch the glittering object that she had haphazardly tossed to the sky. He over his feet, rushing towards the jewel as he barely managed to catch it in his hands. Eyes were wide and his mouth was agape as he eyed the gem cautiously. It burned hot. Giddiness swept over Eggman as he held the jewel up high, bathing it in the heat that swarmed them.
A white Chaos Emerald.
"A third-party observer?" the hostility in his voice was quickly swept away and replaced with interest. He stood tall, taking in the beauty of the Chaos Emerald as it refracted off the low light. It burned even in the darkness. Sparkling as if the sun casted upon it.
The figure chuckled, her footsteps drawing closer to Eggman. As she neared, he got a better look at her. A black jacket with some sort of fabric covered her left arm. Short but spikey fur. But most of all that confused Eggman was her age. She was young. Younger than Sonic. Hell, perhaps even as young as Tails.
What is this child doing here?
"I need your help."
Eggman shook his head as he clenched the emerald in his hand. "I'm not a man for hire." He frowned as he turned to properly regard the intruder.
And who does this child think she is?
"I think we can have a mutually beneficial relationship." She forced a smile. "You want a certain hedgehog gone. I want another certain hedgehog gone. You help me, I help you."
As she approached closer, Eggman could make out more of her features. A long black muzzle. Emerald green eyes. Rounded ears. But, most prominently, regardless of her youthful appearance, her eyes looked old. A similar feature he had noticed in that white hedgehog.
What was his name again…?
"What help could you possibly provide to me?" Eggman narrowed his eyes at her. "You don't look exactly up to fighting capability."
"Do you remember that white hedgehog?" Eggman's interest was instantly piqued. "I recall at Halyceon that he might have had some trouble fighting against you." Eggman was taken aback as her gaze turned towards the Chaos Emerald in his hand. "I happen to know of a way to combat his powers."
Thoughts raced through Eggman's mind as he took in those words.
The powers that Silver possessed were unlike any he had seen before. There were similarities that he had seen. But none of them perfectly aligned themselves together with Silver's powers. He had theories but none of them drew a conclusion. His hope that he would have captured that damned hedgehog and ran a few tests on the other. But that plan had obviously gone awry.
But if she knew of a way to harness Silver's powers, it would remove that thorn in his side for good and profit some interesting test results.
He couldn't allow himself to get too far ahead of himself. Even as he regarded her words carefully, he still was unsure of her abilities. A young mobian like this could cause plenty of trouble for him. Whether it be her inexperience regarding worldly matters, or simply her lack of martial prowess. He had already been humiliated one too many times relying on another's powers, and he had not yet recovered from the humiliation of Infinite's defeat.
But in this new world, he had to, begrudgingly, take all the help he could get.
Even if meant to discard them when they had fulfilled their usefulness.
His frown turned to a wicked smile. He bent his knee, his hand outstretched to the young vontsira. His glasses gleamed. "And who do I have the pleasure of working with?"
She smiled. Though it was not wicked like Eggman's, it was a smile that he knew well. A smile not to rule the world. A smile not to take in the pleasure of destruction.
"You can call me Sol."
It was a smile of vengeance.